"The potential for the price hike comes because there's less gasoline supply for California drivers while the El Segundo refinery is offline. A similar instance happened earlier this year, when a chaotic explosion and fire at the Martinez Refining Company sent the refinery offline and caused major supply issues. "That means that the burden is then spread out amongst fewer refineries to provide fuel for the general population on so many levels," McClain said."
"Matt McClain, a petroleum analyst at Gas Buddy, told SFGATE that California will likely see a gas price spike due to the blaze, but it won't be as bad as experts predicted before the fire was out. "There's really no way to pull that amount of fuel offline and there'd be zero impact," McClain said. "... Looking at this particular point, it'll create a little bit of a ripple effect but nothing as big as originally feared.""
An overnight fire ignited at 9:30 p.m. at the Chevron El Segundo Refinery, which processes about 16% of California's gasoline supply, roughly 269,000 barrels per day. Emergency crews from El Segundo and Manhattan Beach worked to extinguish the blaze, and Chevron reported the fire was out by Friday. Reduced output while the refinery is offline could tighten statewide gasoline supply and push prices up by an estimated 10 to 20 cents per gallon. A Gas Buddy petroleum analyst said a price spike is likely but probably smaller than initially feared. The timing and scale depend on damage assessments and repair duration; Chevron had not provided restart details. California gas prices were above the national average at $4.64 per gallon as of Friday afternoon.
Read at SFGATE
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